1
Introduction
Fade In
Exterior Local Television Station
It is 7:00 a.m. There is not much traffic on the street. Viewed from the outside, the building is rather unremarkable. It is a largely windowless structure surrounded by a number of equally unremarkable warehouse buildings. Only the cluster of satellite dishes in front gives any indication that there is something special about this building. (See Figure 1.1.)
Cut To
Interior Television Control Room
A half dozen people sit in the relative darkness of the control room. In front of them is a bank of several dozen video monitors. Some display the broadcast images from the other local stations; others contain monitors for the feeds from various microwave and satellite sources that are being beamed to the station. (See Figure 1.2.)
In the center of the activity is the director, who is rapidly calling out commands to the members of his technical crew: camera operators, graphics specialists, and sound engineers. On the floor of the television studio is an elaborate set. The main news desk has room for the two principal news anchors who host this extremely popular morning program. At the other end of the set is an interview area, where the mayor of the city is about to be interviewed. At the far end of the studio is a green wall that serves as the backdrop for the weather reports. The director calmly calls commands for everyone to get ready; the program title sequence, which is stored on a video server elsewhere in the building, is cued and started, and two hours of live television have now begun to be broadcast from the studio.
Cut To:
Exterior of State Capitol Building
A small van with the distinctive logo of the statewide public television network is parked outside the capitol building. A long antenna telescopes from the roof of the van. At the tip of the antenna a small dish points toward a receiving dish on the side of the main television transmission tower that serves the city. A reporter is getting ready to do a live shot on the status of the state budget hearings. A single cameraperson stands ready with a camera mounted on a tripod, framing the shot so that the reporter is visible in the foreground and the capitol building appears slightly out of focus in the background. In a minute or two the reporter’s live report will be broadcast on the state public television network.
Cut To:
Exterior of a House on a Tree-Lined Suburban Street
Dissolve To:
Interior Shot of a Room. A Small Desk Holds a Personal Computer and Two Audio Speakers.
The computer is being used to edit video footage of a soccer game. The editor deftly selects and trims picture clips, drags them into the program’s timeline, and then adds video transitions and background music. In a few hours, she has assembled a chronological account of the game, which she then exports to a thumb drive before delivering the final product to her client. (See Figure 1.3.) In other cases, the final product is sent to the client using a cloud-based file transfer service, such as WeTransfer, where video files are uploaded to a website specifying an email address for the recipient who then proceeds to download it to a computer.
Dissolve To:
Interior Shot of the Arrival Area of the Honolulu Airport
College pals Mallory, Marisa, and Cara are taking a Spring Break trip to Hawaii. Mallory is the photo documentarian of the group. Using her smartphone (see Figure 1.4), she records events in chronological order documenting their arrival at the airport, the taxi ride to the hotel, snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, sunrises, sunsets, and the general high points of the trip. Then using a video editing app on her phone, she assembles the footage into a short slice-of-life documentary and uploads it to her Facebook page and her own personal, customized YouTube channel so her network of friends can share in the experience of the trip.
The Expanding Universe of Video Production
Video production has become one of the most important tools of communication and self-expression in contemporary culture. Once the exclusive province of broadcast stations and networks, video production technologies are now found in a variety of environments, including educational institutions, government agencies, corporate environments, and individual homes.
The examples of television and video production that were described at the beginning of this chapter barely begin to give you an idea of the variety of ways in which television and video are put to use on a daily basis. Not so long ago broadcast television was the only game in town for individuals who were interested in producing and distributing video material. Today, broadcast television is complemented by cable and satellite distribution of news and entertainment programming. Specialized applications of video production are found in a variety of industries and professions, such as medical television and legal video. And with the development of cost-effective digital cameras and video editing software designed to run on personal computers, computer tablets, and smartphones, home video production distributed via social media has become extremely popular.
Whether one is focused on producing video content for distribution on a broadcast station or a cable network, for one’s own personal use, or for distribution via a social media outlet, the basic techniques of production remain remarkably similar. This book has been written for students who want to learn the fundamental principles of video production and the technologies that are used in production. The book will cover the two principal areas in which video production takes place: studio production and field production (location production outside of a video studio) and will discuss the integration of computer-assisted production technologies as well. In addition, we will discuss single-camera production and multicamera production, the two principal production techniques or strategies that are used in both studio and field production environments, as well as the principal elements of the production process: preproduction, production, and postproduction. Finally, we will explore the basics of a technological area that is viewed by many as “the future” of the television and video industry: distribution of video through the Internet, also known as video on the Web, online video, or streaming video.
Television and Video: What’s the Difference?
Television? The word is half-Latin and half-Greek. No good can come of it.
—Anonymous
Two terms are used to describe the technologies and production processes with which this book concerns itself: television and video. Television is the more traditional term. As the anonymous quote indicates, it is derived from tele (the Greek root that means “at a distance”) and videre (the Latin verb that literally means “to see”). Taken together, the word television means to see at a distance. In the traditional sense, television is used to refer to television stations and networks as a locus of production as well as a means of distribution for programs.
In a technical sense, video refers to the picture part of a television signal (don’t forget that television includes the sound or audio component as well). However, the term video has taken on a meaning that is broader than either the narrow technical definition of the word or, for that matter, the term television itself. Any image that is electronically recorded by a video camera (or any other device with video recording capabilities like a computer tablet or smartphone) and displayed on a television or video screen can be classified as video, whether or not it is broadcast. Perhaps that is one reason that we use the term home video and not home television to describe video recording that is made for personal use. All broadcast television is in part video; but not all video is destined to be broadcast television.
The term video has been incorporated into the lexicon of multimedia producers as well. Individuals who are producing programs that are meant to be distributed over the Internet and viewed on a home computer, tablet, or smartphone frequently incorporate video (as well as text and sound) into their multimedia presentations.
Principal Elements Involved in Video Production
■ Technical and Aesthetic Elements
To be successful, video producers must have a basic understanding of the equipment that they work with (technical elements of production) as well as an understanding of how the manipulation of production elements such as lighting, sound, and editing (aesthetic elements of production) shape the meaning of the programs they produce. In addition, they recognize that a successful production is built step by step through a precise planning process.
Because video production is technology-dependent, if you are going to produce video projects, you need to know a little bit about how the equipment works. This does not mean that you need to be an electrical engineer and understand all of the electronic and physical principles that govern the operation of the equipment. What it does mean is that you must have an understanding of how the various components of the video production system interrelate. You need to know what the equipment you are working with can and cannot do—in other words, you need to know the potentials and limitations of the equipment you have at your disposal. No matter how extravagant a production may be, producers seldom have access to unlimited budget and facilities. So one of the first important lessons of video production is learning how to work within limits to complete a production on deadline and within the allocated budget.
Video producers also must understand how to manipulate the basic production elements they have at their disposal. Picture composition, sound, editing, and graphic design are some of the basic aesthetic elements of video production. Most professional producers have access to a similar set of production tools; what distinguishes one production from another is the unique way in which these production elements have been put to use in a particular program. Student and independent video producers typically do not have access to the high-end, professional-quality equipment favored by broadcasters and television networks. However, with creativity and an understanding of the limits and potential of the equipment at hand, non-broadcast producers often produce effective programs that rival those of their professional counterparts in terms of creativity and effectiveness, even if the technical quality is somewhat lower.
Finally, video production involves teams of individuals working together to achieve a common production goal. Recognizing the importance of the human element of the production process is a key characteristic of successful television and video producers.
■ Planning, Interpersonal Communication, and Teamwork
While the novice producer may think that learning the technology of production poses the greatest challenge, in reality the biggest problems in production may well be the need for thorough planning and organization and for dealing with people. Video production is a complex, team-oriented activity. (See Figure 1.5.) In the high-pressure, deadline-driven world of video production, thorough planning, good communication, and teamwork are three of the principal keys to success. Producers and directors need to motivate production crew members to do their best work; production crew members need to be positive contributors to the production at hand. And everyone needs to communicate with the other members of the production team.
The organizational and teamwork skills that are needed to guarantee successful productions are in high demand by production employers. The student who has developed organizational and planning skills as well as production skills often has a competitive edge when hiring decisions are made.
■ Creative Problem Solving
Video production, whether accomplished in a studio setting or in a field location, demands that a complex set of logistical and technical problems be efficiently solved for the production to be a success. Ultimately, everyone involved in video production is engaged in creative problem solving. Communication via video means that the producer/writer/director must understand the medium and how to use it. Finding the appropriate techniques to effectively express the idea and content of a program presents problems that must be solved creatively.
Development, Production, and Distribution
■ Television Is a Producer’s Medium
Although every member of the production team who is involved in the completion of a video project is important, the principal responsibility for the control and completion of a project falls to the producer. For this reason, television is often referred to as a producer’s medium. The producer (or executive producer of a large-scale project) is responsible for developing the program idea and then hiring the production crew to execute the production. The producer typically has responsibility for overseeing the budget of the production as well and making sure that the project is completed within budget and on time.
■ Development
All video productions go through a process that involves development, production, and distribution. The development phase of a project precedes any actual production activity. This is the phase in which the production idea is developed. Many dramatic television programs are developed from novels or from events that have actually taken place. In either case, during the development period, a producer obtains the rights to the story (by negotiating either with the author and publishers of the novel or with the individuals involved in the real-life events the program will be based on) and then begins to develop a script for the program or an outline for the series. Once the initial development of the program or series is complete, it can then move into production.
■ The Three Stages of Production (The Three Ps)
All productions can be broken down into three stages: preproduction, production, and postproduction. Once the actual production of the program is complete, the final step in the process in distribution.
• PREPRODUCTION This stage of production describes the period of time after the initial development and approval of the program idea and before the actual production of the program begins. During preproduction, all of the logistical issues related to the production must be solved. The producer has responsibility for organizing the production and the production crew. Thorough preproduction is necessary to ensure that the production and postproduction phases are completed smoothly. Because of the great amount of detail involved in organizing a production, the program preproduction phase typically takes more time than either production or postproduction.
• PRODUCTION During production the program is actually produced. If the program is “live,” the production phase is relatively short, extending over the time of the live broadcast and a short period afterward. Many programs are produced with postproduction editing in mind. Programs that are recorded to be edited later typically take longer to produce than live projects. Shooting may extend over days or weeks, depending on the length of the project.
• POSTPRODUCTION During the postproduction phase the program is edited. (See Figure 1.6.) For short projects such as news or feature stories that are a couple of minutes in length, postproduction editing may be completed in a matter of hours. For longer-form programs such as documentaries and dramas, editing may extend over a period of weeks. And for feature-length projects such as made-for-TV movies, editing can take several months.
■ Distribution
The final phase of any project is the distribution phase. For projects that are completed as a course assignment in a college or university production class, distribution may be as simple as viewing the final project on the last day of class. For a program that is produced in the context of a local television station, distribution may be limited to a live broadcast of the program, with or without additional repeat broadcasts. For a corporate training video, distribution may mean that the program is made available on a video server to be accessed by employees via their desktop computers, connected to the central server via a local Intranet. Or your video may be designed and produced for distribution to a worldwide audience via a website or social media outlet like Facebook, YouTube, or Vimeo. The production considerations for video that is meant to be distributed via the Web are somewhat different than video that is meant to be broadcast, cablecast, or shown directly on a video monitor. These production and distribution concerns are the focus of Chapter 13, “Video on the Web.”
As different as these examples are, the ultimate goal of any production is to reach a specified audience and to affect the audience in some way. In the following chapters, we will take you step by step through the process of video production.